INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

the institution is willing to comply with its requirements. “For me to receive support from
the South African government would require me to compromise on so many things, like
our status as partial guardians, or the fact that we are lenient with children over the age of
eighteen,” explained Pastor Mike. “Plus, we are a religiously based organization, which
tends to make government monitors very suspicious. They might find something like us
offering bus rides to church on Sunday to be a way of forcing religion on our kids. I
always leave it up to them.” Pastor Mike reflected on various ways he has learned to
make money for the center over the years, along with ways not to.
“Years ago, I rented out some space in our center to tenants who started to refuse to
pay me rent. The more we tried to collect it, the more stubborn they got. Then one day,
we were on the front page of the newspaper that was doing an exposé on faulty
orphanages. One of our churches that sponsor us called me right away and was angry. I
soon found out what happened. One of the tenants tried to report a false story to the
newspaper. I explained this to the church and they told me that they didn't believe a word
of that article. Eventually things settled and I was able to get rid of the tenants, even
though I lost a year’s worth of rent money. That taught me never again to earn money
from renters.”
Pastor Mike does, however, allow parts of the center to be rented by a school
during weekdays and churches on the weekend. Those partnerships have lasted for years
and have yet to cause an issue. The center has found other creative endeavors to provide a
steady income. This includes running a thrift shop out of the front of the center. Much of
the center’s staff also shops there, able to buy clothing for cheaper while supporting the
center. The staff also carefully manages an invested endowment and brings in a good
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